1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved exercise apparatus for use while running or walking. More particularly, the present invention is directed a method for exercising and an improved apparatus for practicing the method including exercise poles to be grasped by a user's hands for exerting downward force with the arms and upper body during running or walking.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Running and walking are popular forms of exercise, but are not suitable for everyone. Many people have difficulty in running because a significant amount of strain is placed on the feet, ankles, knees, hips and back due to jolting forces transmitted through the foot from impact with the ground. People with disabilities also have difficulty in exercising by running or walking and often cannot get a vigorous workout without risking injury from loss of balance. Another difficulty is that running for exercise provides very little work for the upper body.
A number of other forms of exercise have been developed which have proven only partly satisfactory in dealing with such difficulties. Cross-country skiing utilizes poles to provide balance and locomotive force, in turn providing some upper body exercise; however, the poles are primarily useful in a low-friction environment, such as on snow, where only moderate force is used for forward propulsion. Ski poles and similar devices, such as are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,524, are held out in front of the body, making it difficult to provide much downward force in performing an exercise; the body's weight is not borne by the arms, therefore, such devices are not very useful in reducing the strain and jolting forces which the legs and lower body experience while running, and the risk of strained ankles or twisting injuries is not sufficiently reduced.
In the medical arts (as contrasted with the exercise equipment arts), a number of crutches have been disclosed. These are not for use in exercise but are for use by those patients which have difficulty in walking. Crutches, as such, fall into two general categories, underarm crutches and forearm crutches. In general, underarm crutches are intended to support the patient's weight on an upper arm rest at the underarm; a hand grip is used primarily to move the crutch. Forearm crutches include a hand hold for bearing the patient's weight and a forearm brace, to allow the patient to align his or her forearm with the crutch.
Forearm crutches, such as are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,567, present two problems. First, forearm crutches typically permit only some of the patient's weight to be on the hands and are loosely braced to the forearm (see loop 22) to align the forearm with the crutch hand rest. Second, the restricted movement imposed by the arm brace makes it awkward to control the position of the crutch, since the crutch must be moved in a fore and aft motion while held by the hand grip.
Neither type of crutch is conducive to a natural and vigorous motion for use in a walking or running exercise. It is not possible to keep the top padded portion of an underarm crutch braced in a user's underarm while extending the hand and arm in a motion which places the user's weight on the hands, thus providing some form of upper body workout. Analogously, it is not possible to align, move and control the position a forearm crutch in a natural and vigorous walking or running exercise, while placing a significant amount of downward force on the forearm crutch handle. For these reasons, crutches have not been adopted as exercise devices.
Accordingly, there is a need for an exercise device with which a user may obtain vigorous exercise while avoiding the strain and jolting forces typically resulting from running.